By analyzing the genetic diversity and distribution of the wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi) geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology have pinned the initial shift in the spiders' range to the 1930s, occurring "in parallel with the onset of global warming."

The research, which sampled historical specimens from museum collections as well as contemporary spider populations, noted that after this initial change interbreeding allowed the spiders to gradually shift their natural temperature preferences and penetrate farther and farther north.

To test the theory, the researchers transplanted spiders from northern populations to southern, Mediterranean climes and vice versa—the arachnid equivalent of a foreign exchange program. The northern spiders exhibited signs of heat stress during their sojourn while the southern spiders couldn't survive the northern chill.

"Global warming could have facilitated the initial admixture of populations and this resulted in genetic lineages with new habitat preferences," said the study's author, Henrik Krehenwinkel.

I'm pretty sure that S.P.I.D.E.R. is a bad thing (Harlan Ellison tells us so). So then is W.A.S.P. S.P.I.D.E.R. the anglo-saxon version? I thought we had dealt with that back in the 40s, soon after realizing in the 30s when they started expanding their territory far too rapidly.

After a quick wiki search of the wasp spider it seems to me the male wasp spiders may be the more intelligent of male spiders... So often we hear that the female spider will eat the male, yet these little guys wait for her final moult when her jaws are too soft to fear being eaten.

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

Nah -- it just has a classic, wasp-style, yellow & black stripes coloration.

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

If those guys ever make out out of South America, I'm moving to freaking Alaska. Those things scare the shit out of me.

I don't mind them so much as I do the African driver ants. The hippopotamus is said to be the most dangerous animal in Africa, the charge of the rhinoceros is like the coming of a land slide, the elephant stands as a mountain upon the face of the Earth, and the lion is revered as the King of Beasts, and yet... All make way for siafu!

Absolutely NONE of those other insects make me feel any better. I think I need to secure my apartment. These walls don;t seem thick enough to stop the inevitable Spider/Wasp/Other Hideous Creature apocalypse that must be coming.

Absolutely NONE of those other insects make me feel any better. I think I need to secure my apartment. These walls don;t seem thick enough to stop the inevitable Spider/Wasp/Other Hideous Creature apocalypse that must be coming.

Well, as much as they look terrifying, these Spider Wasps are no threat to a human (although there is one species in the Amazon jungle which sting can kill a human adult), their sting surely hurts, but you won't die from it.

Much worse are Spiders. There are some big ones in tropical jungles (I saw, on Discovery Channel, one that has a 12" diameter and preys on even venomous snakes).

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

I can't get past "Wasp spider". Is that a spider-like wasp? A spider that flies? One that eats the other? I know I can click the link, but the image of that name horrifies me. Why must science do this?

Standard in English didn't change when it evolved from German: the last word is what it is, the first is descriptive. A wasp spider is a spider just as a car phone is a phone and an aschenbecher (ashtray) ist ein becher (glass/cup).